Expert: David Powner - 11/3/2005

Question
Am a longtime user of firewood for heating my home and am entirely satisfied as such - except for one problem. In spite of all efforts to prevent it, when the wood heater is in use, it invarably spreads a very fine dusting of ash all around the house that settles on the furniture, walls, and ceiling - every surface that is exposed to the heat.  Would the air purifying devices such a the widely advertised "Sharper Image Ionic Breeze" be effective in capturing this material if placed near the wood-burning heater?  

Answer
I would first refer you to the following web page:

http://www.quackwatch.org/14Legal/ionicbreeze.html

Essentially,these devices create a static charge in a *very* (a few sq. ft) localised area, and the particles are attracted to the nearby (now) highly charged surfaces.

As you have observed, all other areas of the rooms (walls, furniture etc.) are naturally oppositely charged, and are serving the same purpose.

The only real answer is a hood above the stove with a powered exhaust to a physical filter - the downside being that most of the generated (convected) heat would also go the same way, unless there is a facility for returning the cleaned heated air back into the environment from whence it came.

Otherwise, having removed the convected heat, you are then left with radiated heat, which I doubt will be adequate.

I assume there is no further option for utilising the heat - such as heated water from the stove(conducted heat)directed to radiators (conducted heat converted to radiated heat)

I hope this helps, although I suspect not, and you will just have to live with the benefits & shortcomings of firewood.

You are more than welcome to ask for more information.